1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to a glide that is mountable to a leg of a piece of furniture and, in particular, to a glide assembly fixedly securable about a leg of a chair or desk.
2. Description of the Related Art
The free end of each leg of a piece of furniture often includes a cap, foot, or glide to allow easy sliding of the piece of furniture over the surface on which it is supported, such as a floor. More specifically, the feet, for example, of a chair or desk are designed to increase the amount of surface-area contact and reduce the amount of frictional contact between the respective legs and the floor.
One type of foot commonly employed in the related art generally includes an attachment portion and a gliding portion. The attachment portion is adapted to be fixedly secured to the free end of a leg, and the gliding portion is operatively connected to the end of the attachment portion opposite the leg. The gliding portion has a flat surface made of a hard, durable material, such as metal or nylon, and is adapted to be in operative contact with the floor.
However, this type of foot suffers from the disadvantage that when the chair or desk is moved along the floor, frictional contact between the foot and the floor produces a perceptible noise. In a classroom setting, especially in an elementary school where many relatively young students can be moving or “scooting” their respective chairs and desks at any one time, this noise can be multiplied to a very significant level. Also, this type of foot suffers from the disadvantage that the flat surface collects sand, dirt, and other debris. Furthermore, this type of foot suffers from the disadvantage that the flat surface can produce rust marks on the floor. In addition, a tool is often required to fixedly secure/remove this type of foot to/from the respective leg. Moreover, this type of foot suffers from the disadvantage that the angle at which the flat surface of the gliding portion operatively contacts the floor may be different from leg to leg and/or chair to chair, for instance, depending upon the relationship of each leg of the chair with the floor. As such, only an insufficient portion of the flat surface may actually operatively contact the floor.
To overcome these disadvantages in the related art, educators and maintenance personnel have sometimes employed tennis balls as makeshift glides for respective legs of chairs and desks. More specifically, an opened-ended hole is cut in a tennis ball to accommodate the free end of a leg. While ingenious, this approach has been deemed objectionable as unsightly and unprofessional. Also, this type and other similarly shaped types of glide suffer from the disadvantage that they cannot be fixedly secured to the free end of the leg. As a result, when the chair or desk is moved along the floor, the amount of frictional contact between the glide and the free end of the leg may not be sufficient to retain the glide in place about the leg. In fact, as the chair or desk is moved, the glide can slide down the free end of the leg such that the glide can even slide off the leg. Furthermore, in a classroom setting, especially in an elementary school, the relatively young students can manually remove the glides. In either event, at least one glide missing from a chair or desk can cause the chair or desk to wobble and, thus, be functionally inferior. In addition, glides of any type made of a hard, durable rubber can grind into and, thus, mar the floor over which the chair or desk is slid.
The caps, feet, and glides of the related art suffer also from the disadvantage that only few, if any, of them are designed to be employed with a leg defining a substantially rectangular cross-section. More specifically, most of them are designed to be employed with only a leg defining a circular cross-section. However, about twenty percent of existing chairs and desks and those being manufactured have legs each defining a substantially rectangular cross-section. As such, there is a significant number of chairs and desks having a particular need that is not being sufficiently met.
Thus, there is a need in the related art for a glide that can be fixedly secured to the free end of a leg of a piece of furniture such that it can be retained to the leg when the piece of furniture is moved along a floor while maintaining sufficient contact with the floor. Similarly, there remains a need in the related art for a glide that cannot be manually removed from the leg by relatively young students in a classroom setting, especially in an elementary school. There is also a need in the related art for a glide that does not mar the floor or produce a perceptible noise or rust marks on the floor when the piece of furniture is moved along the floor. There is also a need in the related art for a glide that does not require a tool to fixedly secure/remove the glide to/from the leg. There is also a need in the related art for a glide that is sightly and professional. There is also a need in the related art for a glide that does not collect sand, dirt, and other debris. There is also a need in the related art for a glide a sufficient portion of which operatively contacts the floor. There is also a need in the related art for a glide that is designed to be employed with a leg defining a substantially rectangular cross-section.